Rick Santorum has no idea what's happening in our military.

On CNN, asked by John King if he agreed with a recent Pentagon decision that would formally open up front-line roles for women in combat, Santorum said, " I think that could be a very compromising...

Yesterday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta stated that the United States would begin transitioning to an ATA (advise, train, assist) mission in Afghanistan, from our current operations that consist of using U.S. forces to provide security for the population.

When President Obama announced his plans...

Imagine that a man who said there should be no freedom of religion for Muslims, that there should be no Mosques in America, and that America is in a religious war that pits America, a "Christian Nation," against Islam was invited to address our men and women in uniform? Well,...

There are no words to express my disgust at the video making the rounds today, of U.S. Marines apparently urinating on the dead bodies of the Taliban. As an Iraq War veteran who works with Iraq and Afghanistan veterans every day, I can truthfully say that the Marines...

A couple of weeks ago, my colleague Richard Smith posted comments he discovered, made by Senate candidate Pat Toomey, about why the former congressman voted against a $1,500 combat bonus for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yep, Toomey voted no on a very simple amendment in 2003, that...

It's not often you'll find me agreeing with an op-ed in the Washington Times, but this one from retired Brig. Gen. John Castellaw is spot on.

Since passage of the 21st Century GI Bill, which VoteVets.org worked hard to pass, thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have taken...

The war in Iraq is not over.

The president must make that clear tonight. Though planned combat operations are done, every single one of the 50,000 remaining troops is a combat troop. There's a reason that convoys are called "combat patrols." There could still be casualties. Whether our troops...

In 2007, CNA Corporation wrote, "climate change is a threat multiplier in already fragile regions, exacerbating conditions that lead to failed states -- the breeding grounds for extremism and terrorism." In 2010, the Pentagon followed suit, writing in its 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review that global warming...

Since the debate erupted, the veterans of VoteVets.org kept out of the argument over the planned Community Center for Muslims in Lower Manhattan (falsely called the "Ground Zero Mosque"). Initially, we believed this was a local issue for New Yorkers to discuss. Our thought was that we have as much...

Over the past year, VoteVets.org has worked hard to represent the overwhelming majority of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, who not only see our dependence on oil as a security threat, but believe that we need to pass clean energy legislation -- even going so far as to say...

The open disdain and personal ridicule of the President and his advisors by General Stanley McChrystal and his subordinates in the new issue of Rolling Stone leaves only two acceptable options: Either General McChrystal resigns or is fired.

If he has any honor, he'll step down.

I know...

Charles Krauthammer, in the Washington Post this morning, would have you believe that President Obama's nuclear reduction initiative is wildly off-base and naïve. Sarah Palin, Rudy Giuliani, and other conservatives have echoed this sentiment. The only thing naïve and wildly off-base is their opinion.

Writing for the conservative point of...

For many of us who served in Iraq or Afghanistan, the hyperbolic rhetoric from those opposed to a repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell is somewhat amusing. Listen to Senator John McCain or Elaine Donnelly, head of the right-wing Center for Military Readiness, and you'd think allowing gays and lesbians...

As the immigration debate once again heats up, and the President prepares to meet with Senators Chuck Schumer and Lindsay Graham on the issue today, one perspective that is often missing is that of how this plays into the strength of our military.

At first blush, sure,...

Last evening, President Obama committed only one sentence to the issue of gays and lesbians serving openly in the military, but it was one huge sentence that gives our troops overseas a lot of hope that support is on the way. On the issue of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell...

Among the tragic news in Haiti, and the expected dissection of the Senate race in Massachusetts this week, there's another story going on that likely will not get as much coverage, but is still extremely important. Dozens of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans from VoteVets.org are flying into Washington, DC to...

The failed bombing of a Detroit-bound airplane by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has raised a ton of questions - from what holes there are in airline security, to how he wasn't picked up before on suspicion of terrorist activity. But, to me and the forces in or heading to Afghanistan, one...

In what is quickly becoming a year-end tradition, the Army reported that suicides are yet again at an all time high. Reports the Washington Post:

Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli on Tuesday called the Army's record suicide rate this year "horrible" and said the problem...

Since the inception of VoteVets.org in 2006, we've consistently said that the Iraq war was a distraction that took our eyes off Afghanistan and al-Qaeda, and we've always been supportive of shifting the focus back. So, in that sense, we're pleased that President Obama is doing just that, with his...

This Thanksgiving, the thing that will stick the most with me is while watching football, we'll surely see the thanks to and from the troops videos just before commercial breaks. You know, the ones that have a young Army Sergeant in Iraq saying hi to his wife and kids, and...